Samsung Electronics is being tipped to announce its best quarterly profit in three years – and a record revenue – off the back of rising chip prices and healthy sales of its new foldable smartphones.
Operating profit for the world’s biggest memory chip and smartphone maker are set to jump to 16.1 trillion won ($14 billion) in the quarter ended September, according to a Refinitiv SmartEstimate from 16 analysts, weighted toward those who are more consistently accurate.
That would be up 30% from 12.35 trillion won a year earlier and the highest since the third quarter of 2018. Revenue is likely to rise 11% to 74.6 trillion won – a record high.
Also on AF: Gaming Apps Block Access In Indian State As Betting Ban Bites
An unprecedented global shortage in semiconductor chips amid the pandemic has underpinned Samsung’s results and shares, which soared 45% last year and hit a record high at the start of 2021.
But the stock has dropped since then, compounded by losses in September when US peer Micron warned its memory chip shipments would slip in the near-term, amid industry views that chip prices will tumble after peaking in July to September.
“Samsung shares have fallen due to Micron’s guidance but unlike Micron, Samsung internalises major components … and has other businesses like mobile and foundry to buoy performance,” Hanwha Investment & Securities analyst Lee Soon-hak said.
“Memory [chip] prices are seen rebounding next year after a short period of decline,” Lee added.
Samsung will announce its preliminary results on Friday and its chip division is likely to report an operating profit of 9.9 trillion won, an average of six analysts’ forecasts shows, up 79% from a year earlier, helped by rising memory chip prices and shipments.
Flash Chips In Demand
Prices of DRAM chips, used in servers, mobile phones and other computing devices, jumped 7.9% versus the June quarter, while those of NAND flash chips that serve the data storage market rose 5.5%, data from research provider Trendforce shows.
Analysts also forecast a double-digit operating margin for Samsung’s chip contract manufacturing business as clients rush to secure production capacity.
Its mobile division likely saw about 3.7 trillion won in operating profits, analysts said, down from 4.45 trillion won a year earlier but up from the prior quarter’s 3.2 trillion won on foldable smartphones sales.
An estimated 2 million Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 models were sold in a month since launching in late August, with South Korea topping sales followed by the United States, said Jene Park, a senior research analyst at Counterpoint.
Market participants will be scouring Samsung’s full results later this month for an update on its planned $17 billion US semiconductor factory after sources said it was drawing closer to finalising the construction.
- Reuters with additional editing by Sean O’Meara
Read more:
Taiwan Says Chips Bottleneck Isn’t Only Their Problem, It’s Malaysia’s Too
Xiaomi Funding Lifts Auto-Chip Firm Black Sesame’s Value To Near $2bn
